Paris cancels marathon due to Coronavirus

[Heartstrings]

PARIS (Reuters) - The Paris marathon has been postponed from April 5 to Oct. 18 due to the coronavirus outbreak, organizers said on Thursday.

“In order to avoid a late cancellation that would penalize the participants, we have, in agreement with the Paris mayor’s office, decided to postpone the Paris marathon to Oct. 18,” Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) said in a statement.

About 423 coronavirus cases have been reported and seven people have died in France, the European country second most affected by coronavirus after Italy.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-france-athletics-idUSKBN20S2Q7

* There are already 3 major marathons run in the fall (Berlin, Chicago and NYC), not sure how this will affect those. Not to mention the Boston (4-24) and London (4-26) have not canceled as of this post.

[bullwinkle428]

1. There's a major cycling road race taking place in France right now (Paris-Nice). They

have already taken steps to ban the public from gathering at the start and finish of each stage, but there will still be fans gathering roadside at many spots along the way. There was already a race stopped in Dubai 3 weeks ago for the possibility of 2 positive tests of team staffers, and several people including competitors just got out of quarantine. I'm kind of holding my breath for all involved, hoping this does not induce a further spread of the virus...

[jberryhill]

2. .

[malaise]

3. postponed not cancelled n/t

[Heartstrings]

4. I stand corrected, malaise....nt

[malaise]

5. LOL

[MissB]

6. That sucks

I have some friends that we’re going over there to run that.

[Initech]

7. This fucking POS virus is ruining everything!